Merry Christmas from Anguilla

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News Tidbits from Anguilla

Straw Hat Re-Opened.
As rumored in the last news, Straw Hat restaurant
did reopen last week. They have totally remodeled the place after
suffering significant damage from
Hurricane Georges.
The damage was not a suprise, considering their exposed
position on a pier! Reknowned chef Marc
Alvarez has
joined them and they have been crowded every night with fans of his and of
the old Straw Hat. As might be expected, Marc has completely redone
the menu. More details soon. Reservations: 1-264-497-8300. Email: strawhat@anguillanet.com

French Suspend Ferries.
The French government has suspended five of the Anguilla Ferry Fleet
from landing in French waters. This has not left enough ferries to
maintain the schedule of a crossing every 30 minutes. You should expect
a ferry about every 45-60 minutes now. The dispute is over whether
the boats should be equipped to standards for International waters
(diesel water pump instead of gasoline, etc.) or for Coastal waters.

"The Anguillian", a new paper.
The island has a new weekly newspaper. Nat Hodge published
the first issue on Friday December 4th, with stories about
the Sombrero lease, Franklin Connor announcing candidacy for
next election, Bishop Errol Brooks, Anguilla help to St. Kitts/Nevis
in the aftermath of Hurricane Georges, and Valley Primary School
winning the annual NBA Soccer tournament. The second issue
of December 11th was also packed with news:
the suspension of ferry service, a community meeting about
confrontations between police and youths in Blowing Point, Karen
Slater ending her tour on the Governor's staff, a religious
march for righteousness, a public forum on Sombrero Island, and
sports in Anguilla. For information on special startup
subscription rates, telephone The Anguillian at 1-264-497-5190, fax
8706, Box 98, Stoney Ground, Anguilla.

Ron Webster Wins Bartender Contest.
Ron was named Bartender of the Year at the "Best of
the Caribbean" event at America's Food and Beverage Show
in Miami. Ron wowed the judges and crowd with his
signature drink, the "Ron Agra". This continues Ron's
Gold Medal tradition: double gold in 1997 and 1996 at
the "Taste of the Caribbean" competition.
In the culinary competition,
Anguilla's team of Raoul Rodriguez from
Hibernia Restaurant and
Vaughn Hughes also did well; they won a silver medal.

Friday is a Holiday.
This coming Friday, December 18th, is Separation Day,
an official holiday in Anguilla.

Power Outages Scheduled.
The power was out from 6:30am to 1:00pm last Sunday, December 13th,
while a new generator was installed. There is another outage sceduled
for next Sunday, December 20th, from 6:00am to 8pm, for the same reason.

Nine Artists on Art Screen for Wallblake House

Here is an unusual way to raise money for the
Wallblake House Restoration.
As part of the on-going effort to raise funds for the restoration of the Wallblake
Plantation House, a group of nine island artists have been hard at
work creating a unique 9-panel screen. It is actually 9 separate
paintings, but combined
on a folding mahogany screen measuring approximately 6 x 7 feet.

While each artist painted in their individual style and palate,
the overall effect is a harmonious blend of tropical hues and motifs.
This exquisite collaborative effort of the artists of Anguilla will
provide a stunning decorative focal point in any setting.

Beginning on November 15, at the newly opened Loblolly Gallery
in South Hill Plaza, the screen will be on display at various
island locations until the evening of February 6th, 1999, when it
will be auctioned at the annual Wallblake Cocktail Buffet (Inter Island
Hotel, 6-9pm).

Public Holidays in Anguilla

The Anguilla Public Holidays for 1999
are as follows.
(Holiday dates are courtesy of the Objective
Observer.)
Please note that the Queen's Birthday is Tentative (the
real date changes from the tentative date every year):

Updates and Feedback

This is in response to the article titled, "Pirates Pier", Cct 15, 1998.
I am the former owner of the Seahorse, and I know about the pier. I
don't mean to burst your bubble or quash any romanitc ideas of
swashbuckling pirates landing on Anguilla, but that pier was constructed
in the 70's in a joint contruction project of local islanders and the
original owner of the Seahorse. It was washed away in the mid eightes (84
I think) when a water spout came in off of a major storm in the area.
The spout also took out power from the island for over 2 weeks and
destroyed the apartments by the beach of the Seahorse and ran a few of
my boats up onto the beach.

It was called Pirates Pier because there
were no lights on the pier, and if a boat came to dock on it at
night, it was joked that they where pirates, because one could not see
them. That's the story.

New: Loblolly Art Studio

A new art
art gallery has opened in the South Hill Plaza: Loblolly Art Studio.

The gallery is a joint venture of
five women artists: Marjorie Morani, Lucia Butler, Susie Graff, Georgia Young
and Claudia Post.

Rather than have 5 separate small studios, they have
combined their output and resources to create one large and impressive studio.

Stop and give them a look when driving past.
They are conveniently located at the western end of the island, near
the major hotels, on the main road.

Directions: Starting in the airport parking lot, take the
only exit and turn left on airport road. Drive straight past NAPA
auto parts, National Bank of Anguilla and straight through the
intersection with Barclays Bank and Albert Lakes Grocery. You will got
through Stoney Ground and Little Dix village. In about 2 miles
you will turn left on a paved road to Shoal Bay. Follow this road
over a hill and down toward the beach. At the bottom of the
hill, turn right on a gravel road that goes to Allamanda, Zara's and
Serenity. Zara's is on the grounds of Allamanda
Beach Club resort.
Keep to the left on the driveway and park at the bottom of the hill.